Liz linked to it in Here and Now, but the photoshopped image in next month’s GQ of Gov. Andrew Cuomo as Conan The Barbarian needs to be amplified.

Cuomo is profiled in the mag in a rare national interview as “The Real Governator.” andrew-cuomo-300x430

Of course the original governator (and the original Conan) is former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. And recall that Schwarzenegger and Cuomo were once married into the same family. Cuomo, of course, married Kerry Kennedy and the two divorced in an acrimonious split in 2005. Schwarzenegger most recently admitted to fathering a child out of wedlock and wife Maria Shriver, Kerry’s cousin, filed for divorce.

(One quick aside, but what is with people photoshopping Cuomo’s head onto different bodies? This is meant to be flattering, but this feels like the Paladino campaign all over again).

Cuomo touches on his divorce in the GQ interview, which is unusual for a governor who keeps his private life as behind the scenes as possible.

From the Q and A:

“I never thought I would be divorced. Losing was one thing. You have to sort of be prepared for it on one level. And I had seen my father lose a few times. But it was a bad combination. I never thought of… Yeah, the divorce was, uh, nothing I had contemplated. And it was, you know—divorce with children is very, very difficult.”

Cuomo also opens up about another sensitive subject: His relationship with Sandra Lee.

Sandy. She is—okay, we keep the private relationship private, but I’ll tell you this, she has been extraordinary in my life. She is clearly, when you meet her, an amazing person. I mean, just the energy she gives off. She really is something special. Has nothing to do with politics. I met her during the period when I had nothing to do with politics. I was trying to figure out how to handle three young girls. And girls’ dress sizes and shoe sizes and why they’re so different from… There’s no logical sense. [smiles] And she has been phenomenal with me. And the girls. The girls love her. And it’s refreshing that, you know, when I go home, the conversation is totally different. And that’s actually been healthy, because this can become obsessively consuming.

The big revelation in the interview is that Cuomo was on the short list to be Al Gore’s running mate in 2000 (he picked Joe Lieberman after publicly considering John Edwards and John Kerry).

Cuomo and Ahh-nold don’t have much in common beyond the Kennedy connection and serving as governors of two populated states. And certainly Cuomo and Conan don’t share this sentiment.

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